Apple recently added the ability to put money into an Apple savings account via the Wallet app, and Kyle Barr of Gizmodo reports that in just four days, there was nearly $1 billion deposited into Apple savings accounts. It is amazing how quickly Apple has become a big player in the banking industry. By the way, I'm happy to note that in my first month with Apple Savings, I have already earned $0.04 in interest, so if any two of you want to ask me for my two cents, you know I'm good for it. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- I noted last month that GM has announced that it will not support Apple's CarPlay system in its future electronic vehicles. John-Anthony Disotto of iMore reports that Ford CEO Jim Farley has said that Ford plans to continue to support CarPlay, noting that 70% of Ford's customers in the U.S. are also Apple customers.
- I mentioned earlier this week that Apple is now using its new Rapid Security Responses program. Adam Engst of TidBITS offers lots of details on the new feature.
- Stephen Hackett notes on his site 512 Pixels that when cars get bigger and bigger screens, CarPlay looks strange because the user interface hasn't yet been updated for the largest screens. As a result, some of the buttons look tiny and there is lots of wasted space on the 14-inch screen in his 2023 Toyota Tundra. Hopefully, Apple has plans to fix this soon in an update to CarPlay.
- Joe Rossignol of MacRumors reports on two popular apps that plan to soon support the Dynamic Island on the newest iPhones. First, Uber Eats will do so, making it easy to track your order just by glancing at your iPhone. Second, Google Maps is planning to support the Dynamic Island for turn-by-turn instructions.
- Darryl Dsouza of The Mac Observer recommends some iPhone wallpapers that make the Dynamic Island on the iPhone more interesting.
- Apple pushed a firmware update for many AirPods models this week. Michael Simon of Macworld explains that it fixed a Bluetooth bug that could potentially let a bad guy gain access to your headphones.
- As reported by Chance Miller of 9to5Mac, this week, New York mayor Eric Adams announced that the City is giving out 500 AirTags to citizens, thanks to a donation from a nonprofit organization. The idea is that people can put AirPods in their cars to try to discourage and counteract carjackings.
- Roman Loyola of Macworld reports that Apple and Google are teaming up to adopt standards to reduce the risk of somebody misusing a tracking device like an AirTag.
- Chance Miller also wrote an extensive article on Brydge, a company that used to sell keyboard accessories for the iPad but which folded this year.
- Joe Fedewa of How-To Geek recommends some Apple Maps features that you might not know about.
- And finally, in this short video posted by Hatton Smith on TikTok, an iPhone appears to survive a 14,000 drop out of a pocket while skydiving. Wow.
@capt_rumcoffee When your phone falls out of your pocket at 14,000 feet #fail #screammovie ♬ original sound - Hatton Smith
